Recently, a reporter from Nanduwan Finance learned that there has been new progress in the patent dispute between domestic mobile phone manufacturers OPPO and Nokia .
It is reported that OPPO Guangdong Mobile Communications Co., Ltd., OPPO (Chongqing) Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd., etc. will sue Nokia Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd., Nokia Technology Co., Ltd., and Nokia Company . The case will be heard on Chongqing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court on October 27.
Regarding the above news, on October 24, OPPO confirmed to Nanduwan Finance and Economics reporters that this is a case involving OPPO suing Nokia for patent charges.
Nokia launched a series of "patent litigation wars"
In recent years, discussions between Nokia and OPPO on 4G (LTE) and 5G patents have broken down, resulting in the fact that since 2021, Nokia has successively initiated patent lawsuits against Chinese communications company OPPO in nine countries and regions including India, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, and has applied for an injunction in each lawsuit.
According to reports, in Germany alone, Nokia sued OPPO for 9 standard essential patents (SEPs) and 5 patents in three district courts in the country. In July this year, a court in Mannheim, Germany granted Nokia a cease-of-required order against OPPO in a standard essential patent lawsuit against Nokia and OPPO. Due to this incident, some of OPPO and its sub-brand OnePlus have also been suspended for sale in Germany.
Nanduwan Finance and Television reporters found that behind the frequent lawsuits between the two parties, the main issues of patent charges for 4G and 5G. It is said that the two parties have not yet reached a licensing agreement on the basic or necessary patents of 5G standard. Nokia has accumulated rich patents from the 2G era to the current 5G era. According to the 5G patent rankings released by the Intellectual Property Center of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology in April 2022, Nokia's 5G patent family accounts for 7.6%. Data from the "Global 5G Patent Activity Report (2022)" shows that among the number of valid patent families in the world, Nokia ranks sixth, with a share of 7.6%.
charging standard is unreasonable. The patent fee exceeds Huawei
The company used Nokia's patent, and it is understandable to pay it patent licensing fee, but the problem is that Nokia's charging standard is really unreasonable. For example, for 5G patent licensing fees, according to the charging standards announced by Nokia in 2018, each mobile phone that uses its patent should pay a patent licensing fee of up to 3 euros (approximately RMB 22.95). According to Nokia's charging standards and patent share, the total 5G patent fee required for a device is as high as about 40 euros (about 283 yuan). In comparison, as the global leader in 5G networks, Huawei's patent charges are only US$2.5 per unit (approximately RMB 15). Faced with Nokia's high and unreasonable charging standards, the mobile phone industry has complained, but if any company comes forward to boycott it, it will attract a patent "litigation war" that Nokia has exhibited in many countries and regions.
Regarding patent disputes, OPPO previously told Nanduwan Finance and Social Security reporters, "OPPO respects intellectual property rights and advocates reasonable charges, advocates resolving intellectual property disputes between licensors and licensees through friendly negotiations, and respects the value of patents. On the other hand, OPPO firmly opposes unreasonable and high-priced patent fees, firmly opposes the malicious act of coercing licensees to negotiate and accept unreasonable and high-priced licensing fees through litigation, and advocates the establishment of a long-term and healthy intellectual property ecology."
Nanduwan Finance and Social Security reporters learned that as of September 30, 2022, OPPO's global patent applications had exceeded 83,000, and the global number of authorized more than 42,000, of which the number of invention patent applications exceeded 75,000, and invention patent applications accounted for as high as 90% of all patent applications. According to the 2021 International Patent Treaty (PCTh) application ranking list released by World Intellectual Property Organization , OPPO ranked sixth in the world. "OPPO believes that its own patents are of considerable value, but Nokia insists on letting OPPO sign the same patent licensing fee as its competitors. The high and unreasonable charging standards may be the main reason why OPPO refuses to reach a settlement with Nokia." An industry insider familiar with patent litigation said.
OPPO launches a counterattack. Whether Samsung and will Apple successfully renew their contracts
In fact, patent disputes have always been a difficult problem that major mobile phone manufacturers cannot avoid. At present, companies such as Ericsson and Nokia, which have long since left the mobile phone market, can earn a lot of revenue from other companies every year with the multiple patents they hold. A reporter from Nanduwan Finance learned that not only OPPO, but in March this year, Nokia also launched a lawsuit against vivo in Germany, India, Indonesia , Malaysia and other places based on the same logic, and also requested the court to rule that vivo stop selling mobile phones in the local area. In addition to OPPO and vivo, Apple has also begun negotiations on intellectual property authorization renewal with Nokia. The intellectual property lawsuit between Apple and Ericsson has begun hearings in a court in Munich, Germany.
There is a view in the industry that Nokia is so anxious to sue OPPO because it is about to usher in a large-scale contract renewal with manufacturers such as Samsung and Apple. If we cannot reach a satisfactory license clause with OPPO, the subsequent negotiations with Samsung and Apple will put ourselves in a disadvantageous position.
Faced with Nokia's high and unreasonable charging standards, mobile phone companies have also begun to fight back. According to foreign media reports, after confirmation by the Mannheim District Court in Germany, Nokia was forced to withdraw a patent infringement lawsuit against OPPO. The key reason is that the judge believes that OPPO did not infringe the patent rights of the patent involved. The patent involved in the above case - EP355917 is one of the patents that Nokia won the case in the Munich court in Germany. In addition, the Düsseldorf Court and the Munich Court respectively suspended the trial of two Nokia v. OPPO patent cases, waiting for the validity judgment of the German Federal Patent Court.
In July this year, the Indonesian court rejected Nokia's all four patent lawsuits against OPPO and asked Nokia to bear the relevant costs. Recently, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTo) also accepted OPPO's request for invalidation and conducted an invalidation examination of a Nokia patent. This also means that OPPO has now taken the initiative to expand its counterattack "battlefield" to the world, which is enough to demonstrate its determination to resist overseas patent companies' abuse of market dominance and also bring certain confidence to other mobile phone brands.
edited and written by: Nandu·Wan Finance Society reporter Kong Xueshao Intern Li Yantao
